Big first half carries Broncos past defending state champs

September 4, 2004

By Dave Wagner

FLOYD — Floyd’s Bryan Johnson didn’t have a particularly good second half throwing the ball Saturday, going just 2-for-11.
It didn’t really matter, though — the senior quarterback went 7-for-7 in the first half, including three for scores, and the Broncos cruised past defending six-man state champion Tatum 59-20.
Junior running back Jerrod Long rushed for 227 yards and four scores for Floyd (2-0). Long also caught a pair of TD tosses from Johnson, including one for the only score for either side after halftime.
“We just did what we do in practice,” said Johnson, who also returned a first-quarter interception 45 yards for a TD. “But in the second half we wanted to ‘45’ them (end the game on the state’s 45-point lead rule after halftime in six-man games), and I guess the pressure got to us.”
Johnson’s 9-for-20 effort overall accounted for 166 yards passing. In addition to the TD passes to Long, he threw scoring strikes of 16 and five yards to junior Kyle Kropf in the second quarter.
He said the elusive Long made his job easy.
“I love that guy,” Johnson said. “He just did what he does best — shake and bake.”
Long intercepted a pass on the game’s first play from scrimmage, then ran 48 yards for a touchdown on the very next play as the Broncos quickly established control.
“He’s a tough one to prepare for — him and (Melrose’s) Carlos Ruiz are both something because they can do so many things,” Floyd coach Jeff Gillespie said. “And I thought BJ (Johnson) played awesome at quarterback.”
“Offensively we executed well, except for the second half, and defensively we played well.”
Down 32-0, the Coyotes tried to make a game of it, scoring all of their points in the second quarter. Alberto Castro threw TD passes of 24 yards to Leo Gonzales and Obie Palacios, while Michael Garcia hauled in Logan Henderson’s pass tipped by Long in the secondary on a 61-yard scoring play.
“We started off great,” Gillespie said. “We kind of let up in the second half. We didn’t finish it early the way we should have.”
Tatum coach Jarrod Sower said the Coyotes are in a bit of a rebuilding mode, having graduated several key players from last year’s unbeaten squad.
He also noted that several key players, including Castro and Palacios, missed time during the game after getting dinged up.
“We weren’t focused on the bus coming over here,” Sower said. “But there’s no excuses; Floyd played a good game.
“We proposed to the kids at halftime that we wanted to finish the game, and we did that.”
Most of what damage the Coyotes did came through the air. But the Broncos turned three interceptions of Castro — one each by Long, Johnson and Kropf — into points and were never seriously threatened.
In the junior high preliminary game, Tatum defeated Floyd 58-40.